LEGO Architecture Lincoln Memorial, Assembly Instructions Manual, Page: 4 / 68

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Demands for a fitting national memorial for the 16th
president of the United States began shortly after his
assassination in April 1865. Although Congress passed
its first bill on the matter in 1867, it would be 1913 before
the design, location, and funding of the memorial were
finally approved.
Even then many still questioned whether architect Henry
Bacon’s Greek temple design was too extravagant for
such a humble man as Lincoln, and whether the swampy
and inaccessible Potomac Park was the best place for
it to stand.
The Lincoln Memorial Commission stood firm in its
recommendation: the memorial would stand alone at
one end of the National Mall. The massive sculpture of
Lincoln, the savior of the nation, would face east toward
the monument celebrating the founder of the nation,
George Washington, and in between would be a long
reflecting pool.
The project got under way with a ceremony on
February 12, 1914, and construction began a month later.
Although work slowed as a result of the United States
entering the First World War in 1917, the monument
was completed on schedule in 1922. On Memorial Day,
May 30, 1922, 50,000 people attended a dedication
ceremony. Among those present were hundreds of Civil
War veterans; Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s only
surviving son; and President Warren G. Harding, who
accepted the memorial on behalf of the American people.
The memorial itself echoes a classic Greek temple and
the structure measures 189.7 by 118.5 ft. (58 by 36 m) and
is 99 ft. (30 m) tall. It is surrounded by a colonnade of 36
fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the
Union at the time of Lincoln’s death. The columns stand
44 ft. (13 m) tall with a base diameter of 7.5 ft. (2.3 m).
History and Construction
Above the colonnade, inscribed on a frieze, are the
The memorial is anchored on a concrete foundation, 44
187 by 257 ft. (57 by 78 m) rectangular granite retaining
wall measuring 14 ft. (4.3 m) in height.
The interior of the monument is divided into three
chambers. The north and south chambers contain carved
governing principles in Lincoln’s life.
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